Giving Context To Rob Johnson’s Passed Balls

Tonight, as Felix carved up the Yankee lineup, his ball was darting every which way. Just ask Rob Johnson. In the first inning, while Felix was pitching to A-Rod, Felix first threw a wild pitch, allowing Derek Jeter to advance from first to second. He then he threw a two-seamer that ran down and in to A-Rod, and glanced off Johnson’s glove, allowing Jeter to take third–a passed ball.

That passed ball was Johnson’s eighth of the season, in his 45th game. He continues to lead the American League in that statistical category. The next closest is Mike Napoli, with 4. Last year, in 80 games, Johnson allowed 9 passed balls; so, he is primed to far exceed that number this season, perhaps even before the All-Star Break.

Maybe Rob wouldn’t allow so many passed balls if he wore his mask correctly.

Many Mariner fans, in just these past few seasons, have begun to first realize how important passed ball prevention really is. Fans like me used to take for granted the catcher’s role, not only in blocking balls in the dirt, but also simply catching the ball and not allowing free passes on passed balls.

We all remember how frustrating it was watching Kenji Johjima when he first joined the Mariners. Mariner followers everywhere were appalled by his work behind the plate. In his first season, a season in which he caught 144 games, he allowed 10 passed balls, but even more than that, he looked sloppy behind the plate. We were used to the smooth leadership and professional performance of the great Dan Wilson.

Dan Wilson played 90 games or more during eleven seasons for the Mariners. He started 100 or more games in six of those seasons. He was a constant behind the plate. And Mariner pitchers loved pitching to him–particularly Jamie Moyer, who built such a strong relationship with Wilson in their ten years as teammates that, in Dan Wilson’s last career start, a game started by Moyer, Moyer described the occasion: “I’ve never thrown a warm-up pitch with a tear in my eye.” That’s the kind of presence Dan Wilson brought to the team.

Dan Wilson: We Took Your Leadership For Granted For So Long

The focus of this post, however, is about passed balls. We definitely took passed balls for granted in Dan’s decade with the team. We trusted that Dan would catch everything thrown at him. And, his stats reflect why. The most passed balls he ever allowed in a season was eight in 1995, a season in which he caught 1017 innings. And, that was in the midst of Randy Johnson’s Mr. Snappy era. In 2000 he allowed six passed balls; but, in no other season did he allow more than five passed balls. In fact, in 1997 he impressively allowed only one passed ball in 1202 innings caught.

Again, Rob Johnson already has eight passed balls this season in 381.2 innings, matching Dan Wilson’s career high in a season in which he caught 1017 innings. Johnson is currently on pace to allow twenty passed balls this season. Wow.